Douglas Concha cycles for charity — and he doesn't take the easy way out.
It was a week ago today that he completed a nine-month long trek across the globe on a bicycle to raise money for Doctors Without Borders. He completed an 18,000-mile trek across six continents and 23 countries.
In addition to raising money, he was also out to set a world record on his single-speed bicycle while fully self supported.
"I didn't really know if I could achieve this Guinness World Record I'm setting because no one had either the imagination or anything else to even think it was possible to cross through the entire world on a single speed in this kind of timeframe," Concha said.
"I can't believe I crossed Africa and Indonesia and the winds of Patagonia. I don't even — it almost doesn't seem real."
He completed the trip a month earlier than originally planned — and that was with three accidents, including one that sent him to the hospital 10 days before he was to complete the trek. He suffered from COVID-19 and food poisoning twice, as well as road accidents during monsoon season in Botswana.
"There were all these challenges, but they always counterbalanced with all the beauty of nature," he said.
Concha said he spent 80% of the time completely isolated between cities. "That nature is just perfect. It's beautiful. It's quiet. Even if it's brutalizing you with blistering deserts, or freezing sub-zero temperatures, it's always beautiful."
But beyond the world record, he emphasized how suffering for a charitable cause was an even stronger motivator for him.
"I am constantly focused on the charity and the men and women who put their lives on the line in very dangerous situations to save the people that are most vulnerable due to war, famine, natural disasters, from Palestine to Ukraine to Africa. These people have committed their lives to helping others and put their own lives in danger," he said about Doctors Without Borders.
"I kept thinking that I know for a fact that there are people suffering and dying around the world in this moment. And if they can hold on for another day, under even more terrible conditions than anything I was putting myself through, that I could also endure," he said.
Concha said when he set out on this journey, he wanted a real challenge. It wasn't until a car accident in the final weeks that he realized he was willing to give everything for something that he loved.
"Maybe everything beautiful has to have some kind of pain or suffering attached to it to really be appreciated."
This story aired on The Conversation on March 8, 2024. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m. on HPR-1.
